Covid-19 cases have surged across England for the second week in a row, official figures have revealed.

Government data has shown all 149 local authorities in England recorded an uptick in positive cases in the week ending March 12, compared to the previous seven-day period.

The biggest weekly surges were recorded in North Lincolnshire and Wiltshire.

And it’s not just in England where infections are rising, all four UK nations have reported increases for the first time since the end of January, according to estimates from the Office for National Statistics.

The soaring number of positive cases is thought to be being driven by a new subvariant of Omicron which is even more infectious than the version which swept across the nation in December.

Scientifically named BA.2, the variant is a sublineage of Omicron and is understood to be behind three-quarters of cases in England.

Professor Paul Hunter, an infectious diseases expert at the University of East Anglia, said he believed the current wave of cases would likely peak before the end of the month.

He told MailOnline: ‘Covid cases will likely peak next week or the week after that, but likely before the end of this month.

‘We should then see quite a rapid fall like in the Netherlands and Denmark.’

Experts have repeatedly said there is no evidence BA.2 is any more dangerous than its predecessor.

Evidence from government scientists, also released on Thursday, show vaccines are just as effective at stopping people from falling seriously ill with BA.2.

Professor Hunter said the number of cases of BA.2 had been increasing since March 1 but that it was not the only driver behind rising infection rates.

‘The rate of growth in BA.2 has increased since March 1, and the rate of decline of the other Omicron variants has also slowed,’ he told MailOnline.

‘This is probably [also] down to relaxing the remaining restrictions a bit too early.

‘Either directly as a result of the relaxation or indirectly from people mixing more.

‘Respiratory viruses like Covid always spread more rapidly during autumn and winter and it would probably have been better in my view to wait till the end of March when we are into spring.’

In a further easing of restrictions, the government has removed all remaining Covid travel measures, despite rising cases.

The restrictions, which were axed as of 4am this morning, included pre-travel tests for unvaccinated people.

Transport secretary Grant Shapps said lifting the requirements would allow ‘greater freedom in time for Easter’ to go abroad.

The Department for Transport (DfT) said a ‘range of contingency measures’ would be kept in reserve so ministers could take ‘swift and proportionate action’ in the face of potential new variants.

The department said they would ‘only be implemented in extreme circumstances’, but it was understood the measures would include targeted testing from a country that has seen a new strain emerge.

Health Secretary Sajid Javid said the government would continue to monitor potential new variants but that the final restrictions could now be lifted due to the success of the vaccination programme.

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